Hawkeyes wear down Southern, pull away for an opening night win

It was far from pretty. There were some sloppy and rocky stretches of play. The visiting Southern Lady Jaguars tried to muddy the game with their press and plenty of physicality. It worked for a while, but in the end the game got to where it needed to go, which was a comfortable win for the 21st-ranked Hawkeyes. They outscored the Lady Jags 49-27 in the second half, pulling away for an 86-51 win to open the season.

“(Southern is) a team that makes you just play a little muddy, and there might be a team that beats them by 50, but every coaching staff is going to watch the film (after) and say we really didn’t do the things that we wanted to do as sharply as we wanted to,” said head coach Jan Jensen. “I’m thankful we could still have this type of performance, and we were able to come away with the win.”

Despite some new faces on the roster, the identity of the team is the same as most teams from the SWAC. They might not win, but they’re going to be scrappy, try to force turnovers and ultimately make you feel uncomfortable. That’s exactly what they did to the Hawkeyes on Monday night.

The opening quarter was disjointed and never had any flow or rhythm to it. Southern was whistled eight fouls which made it feel like an endless stop and start, but they also forced three Hawkeye turnovers and nine missed shots. Although the Lady Jags averaged just 5.1 made threes per game last season, they made four triples in the first ten minutes, including a three from Zaria Hurston to cut the Iowa lead to 15-14 just before the first quarter buzzer sounded.

“Against the press itself, there weren’t a lot of turnovers on the first pass, but what a press does, is it speeds you up on the other end and we have a lot of new people that are running those spots, and we didn’t get to our spots,” said Jensen. “We have some called press breakers, and we never run those really consistently, so then we put ourselves in harm’s way because we deviated…I do think it will be great data for us. Sometimes you just have get through it.”

They eventually got through it. A second chance basket from D’Shantae Edwards tied the game 18-18 with 7:22 remaining in the first half, but the Lady Jags fell silent on the offensive end. Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes finally got things going on their own end to take control of the game. An extended 17-0 run, fueled by three consecutive and-one finishes from Ava Heiden and Hannah Stuelke allowed Iowa to open up a 37-24 halftime lead.

Heiden herself put up 15 points and eight rebounds in the first half, finishing the game with a double-double 21 points, 14 rebounds in the first official start of her career. She looked confident calling for the basketball, something that you don’t see a lot from players making their first career start.

“I wish (you guys) were there in practice every day, because you would be hearing a lot of that,” Heiden said. “I think growing those skills in the offseason as allowed me to demand it, and then I have an amazing team around me, and they get it to me when I’m open.”

“She really had a shift in mindset. That mindset shifted towards the end of last year, and then we really challenged her all summer,” said Jensen. “You’re just seeing another level of confidence and Ava’s chasing that next level. (Southern) is not the biggest post that we’re going to face, but I thought out post play was pretty exceptional tonight.”

Leading by double-digits going into the second half, there was still a major stat that hadn’t seen its first of the season. A made three-pointer. The Hawkeyes were 0/10 in the first half, but Hannah Stuelke, the unlikely pick to do it, opened the second half with a triple to give them their largest lead of the night at 40-24.

“I’ve been working really hard, we all have, but that’s been one of my main focuses,” said Stuelke.

“She’s been working a lot in the offseason,” Ava Heiden added. “I’d come in (to the gym) and I’d see her just shooting on the gun and she’s definitely going to prove that this season.”

From that point on, Iowa was more or less in complete control. Back-to-back triples from MVSU transfer Jaylia Reed cut the lead to 46-34 at the midway point of the third quarter, but the Hawkeyes answered with a 15-5 run, capped by a Taylor McCabe three to extend the lead out to 61-39 heading into the final quarter.

Offensively, Iowa ended up getting the ball rolling and shot 57.8% from the floor over the final three quarters, but their defense was able to hold Southern to a pair of lengthy scoreless stretches. A span of 6:51 in the second quarter and 5:48 in the fourth quarter. An improvement from a rough defensive outing against DII Ashland in the exhibition game. On the night, Southern shot just 32.1% from the floor and scored 15 points or less in all four quarters.

“Coach Sean (Sullivan) is always harping on getting kills, and I think that’s going to be a pretty central part to who we are as a team this season. That’s going to help us separate from teams,” said Heiden. “A kill is a stop, score, stop, score, stop. We got ten of them (tonight).”

“We did play much better containment defense tonight than we did against Ashland. I was happy to see that improvement,” said Jensen. “I don’t recall a ton of missed layups (by Southern). When it got away from us, we overhelped a little bit and then they kicked it for some of those corner threes or wing threes, but other than that, I do think our defense was pretty stealthy. I really challenged them after Ashland.”

On the night, Iowa was led by a combined 41 points and 23 rebounds from the Heiden/Stuelke duo, while Emely Rodriguez added 13 points, three rebounds and three assists. Chit-Chat Wright tacked on nine points and seven assists. The Hawkeyes shot 51.7% from the floor for the game and outrebounded the Lady Jaguars 52-21, including pulling down 18 offensive rebounds.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday for a matchup against the visiting Evansville Purple Aces. Tipoff is set for 2:00pm CT on BTN+.